Shazam - Goddess Found
by MischiefDarkness
Summary: Goddess Found - Chapter 1: Unearthed A new chapter begins here for the champions of the Wizard Shazam. A new danger is coming to Fawcett City and something will be unearth on the other side of the World. Join us for part one of Goddess Found.
1. Chapter 1

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Shazam!  
Goddess Found Part 1: Unearthed  
Written by: Krystaledragon & Mischief  
Cover by: MISCHIEF  
Edited by: Mark Bowers

ANCIENT EGYPT  
3548 BC

In Ancient Egypt, along the Nile River, in what today would be the country of Sudan, Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut was lounging on a chair with her lover Teth-Adam by her side. The two were on a boat that was being rowed by slaves of Hatshepsut's.

Hatshepsut was dying and she knew this. The Amulet of Isis had helped her live almost three hundred years next to her lover Teth-Adam; the two had ruled Egypt well, and it had prospered under Hatshepsut's long rule. Hatshepsut turned to look up at Teth-Adam. "My love, I will not live to see the morrow. I have loved you, and loved you well. You have been a wonderful companion these long years, but it is time the Amulet and I parted ways. For the great mother has granted me a long life, but I fear that it cannot prolong my life forever" Hatshepsut said as she coughed, and blood colored her lips.

"No, my love, you are not dying. You can't die. The people need you. I need you. You are a goddess... Please don't leave me," Teth-Adam said as he looked down into the very pale face of his lover and longtime friend. Her eyes were no longer shiny like they used to be and her skin felt a bit clammy to the touch. Even as he said the words he knew that what Hatshepsut said was correct. She was dying, and by morning HE would be alone.

He sat there at her side holding her, kissing her, and simply showing her that, no matter what, he loved her. As the blood moon rose, a gentle rain started to fall. Teth-Adam looked at his lover and he saw her smile at him.

"I love you, Teth-Adam; I always have and always will. I will see you again, that is a vow that I make to you, my love," Queen Hatshepsut said as she took a deep breath and released it slowly. Her eyes then closed as her head tilted to the side and the last thing her eyes saw was Teth-Adam crying for his love.

From that day forth, Teth-Adam mourned the loss of his lover. For the second time in his long existence, Teth-Adam was once again alone in the world. Grief would change this once great man into one of the most hated men Egypt had ever seen. With the Queen Pharaoh by his side, Teth-Adam used his own gifts from the Gods with compassion and humility. Soon grief would be replaced with rage and anger. He would lash out at anyone that challenged what was built by his love, Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut. Teth-Adam used the powers that were bestowed upon him by the Wizard Shazam. He used the powers of Shu, Heru, Amon, Zetuhi, Aton, Mehen and waged a war on anyone that wanted to destroy the legacy of his love.

Teth-Adam's actions had consequences. Several of Adam's court mages found that what Adam had been doing was wrong and used their power to summon the Wizard Shazam begging him for help. The Wizard Shazam agreed with the court mages and intervened. Unable to persuade the Egyptian Gods to deny Teth-Adam, the Wizard imprisoned the powerful Teth-Adam within a scarab and entombed him in one of Egypt's great pyramids.

FAWCETT CITY  
PRESENT DAY

One Tuesday morning, the students at Fawcett City High were in their second class for the day, and the bell was about to ring for them to switch to the third class.

Billy Batson was currently in social science and in the seat next to him was Freddy Freeman, his best friend. The teacher, Mark Krieger, was lecturing on the Civil War. Billy Batson was, on the outside, the typical sixteen-year-old boy - he loved football, cars and girls. Freddy Freeman also, outwardly, appeared to be a typical sixteen-year-old boy, however, unlike his best friend Billy, he was an orphan and was more into girls and finding a home than football and cars. The two were watching the clock waiting for the bell to ring.

Mark Krieger was a middle-aged man who kept his head shaved and seemed to have a fascination with Europe and the two World Wars. Mark, much like Billy and Freddy, had a secret to hide, but, unlike the two boys that were his star pupils, his secret was of a more devious type. It was one that even to this day Mark tried to hide from everyone, for he knew that if his secret ever got out he would be in trouble. Mark's secret was tattooed on his left bicep. There the tattoo was of an eagle and it was holding a hammer in one claw and a shield in the other. In the great bird's beak was held a flagpole with a red flag. In the center of it was a black Swastika.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the school, Mary Bromfield was working on her announcements for the events that she would be reporting on, such as the results of the previous nights' varsity baseball game, and how the girls' volleyball team had won. She would also announce the students who wanted to run for class president. Mary Bromfield was the typical seventeen-year-old girl. She liked boys and horses and dressing pretty and make-up. She also had one secret that she kept from the world and that was that she cared about both Billy and Freddy, however she was desperately in love with Freddy.

Fawcett City, The Envirosystems Industrial Park

Meanwhile across town in the industrial park, a gang of thugs wearing reptilian masks were stealing high tech parts and prototypes from a company called Envirosystems. Though the name of the company in no way explained what it was that they did within the company. The company actually worked on top secret projects for the government.

Within one of their vaults was a plain wooden box that contained something very special and very old. The scientists believed that what was contained within the box may hold the key to many mysteries of the present day. However, only a very select few members of the senior staff had even seen within vault of Doctor Manning's office. Most of the scientists had no idea what the vault even contained, or if anything was even within the vault.

Fawcett City, Fawcett High School

The Fawcett City High School bell rang, signaling the end of the second class for the day. Once the bell fell silent, Mary Bromfield's voice came forth from the speakers throughout the school. She began to praise the whole baseball team for shutting out the Janesville High baseball team. She also congratulated the women's volleyball team for a very narrow win over the Edgerton high volley ball team. She then started to list the different candidates who were running for class president.

Fawcett City's Industrial Park

In the industrial park, EnviroSystems was being ransacked by a group of twelve men wearing all black with reptilian masks. The twelve men had tied up and gagged the employees in the offices of the high tech research facility. They were going office by office stealing both notes and prototypes. "Hey, Jack, does da boss want all da prototypes? Dis one here has a bio-hazard warning on it," one of the masked robbers informed the one that seemed to be in charge.

"You idiot, don't use my name, and yeah, ya heard da boss, he wanted everything no matter what kind of warning it had on it. Now pack it into tha truck," Jack said as he continued to throw binders of notes into a large milk crate.

"Alright, Jack, ya got it," the lackey said as he picked up the small silver-colored case that had the bio-hazard symbol on it.

"I just said ta stop using my name," Jack yelled at his criminal partner and, in a fit of anger, he threw one of the metal binders, which smashed into a window pane in the office. Once the window was broken, the alarm sounded and all of the security doors started to close, leaving Jack and his annoying accomplice locked and trapped in one of the offices, separated from the other ten criminals who were in the loading bay.

The ten robbers rushed to get inside their escape vehicles. Seven of them jumped into one of the white vans and then peeled out, while the other three climbed into the other van. The second van appeared to be a lot lower to the ground than the other one that peeled off. The driver turned on the ignition and heard a cold voice speaking to him from behind, "My master already accounted for this little problem. You two did collect the contents of the safe in Doctor Manning's office?"

The passenger looked into the cargo area of the van and saw a really tall man who wore tan khaki pants with brown colored work boots. He also wore a green and tan sleeveless shirt and his long straight black hair was free. His long hair covered most of his facial features. "Y-yes, m-mister Longshadow," the passenger mumbled to the large individual.

"Objective accomplished, drive within the speed limit to the predetermined rendezvous." The driver turned away from Longshadow and proceeded to follow the large individual's orders.

FAWCETT CITY HIGH SCHOOL

Billy and Freddy were outside on the football field with the rest of their classmates for P.E. Both of them saw several of Fawcett City's police cruisers racing past the school's football field. Billy and Freddy looked at each other, each one knowing what the other one was thinking. Freddy asked the gym teacher if he could go to the nurse's office because he wasn't feeling good. Billy stated the he would help Freddy get to the nurse's office. The gym teacher just waved them off as he attempted to regain his students' attention from the police cruisers driving by the field.

Billy and Freddy went behind the bleachers and spoke their respective magical words that would transform these young boys into Captain Marvel and Kid Marvel. With a loud boom, two of the Wizard Shazam's champions flew into the blue sky of Fawcett City.

Deep within the offices of the Fawcett City Museum was an archeologist by the name of Adrianna Thomas. She had been chasing an ancient ghost for the past two years. She came across a passage on an ancient tablet that made mention of the Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut. The tablet had been sent to a Fawcett City lab for carbon dating; something told her that a passage on the tablet that she committed to memory had the exact location for the Amulet of Isis. Another thing that tablet mentioned was magic. She was unable to get funding for this expedition from the museum, due to funds being tied up with other things, or so she was being told. She had attempted to contact Ibis the Invincible he however had not returned her call. She had no way of contacting the Justice Society's Doctor Fate. She came across someone that she had read about on the Daily Planet's website recently. It was about a specific magical consultant had helped the Major Crime Unit of the Metropolis PD. According to what was online, he was a bona fide mystical individual. Maybe this guy could be able to help me out since the other well-known mystical experts are unavailable. One article mentioned that he was instrumental in defeating the Silver Banshee, according the Daily Star website. Well I can't wait for one of those other guys to call me back. She looked at her computer screen and smiled. She attempted to contact him via his publicist but she was told that Mr. Caesar was not accepting any bookings. Doctor Adrianna Thomas was running out of options. She managed via the internet to find a Caesar fan site that had been posting possible hotels where he might have been staying at. She would use whatever excuse she had to find him. She had found the hotel that he was staying at and left a message for him. Caesar had replied to her call very quickly. That was about two weeks ago.

Two Weeks Ago  
Metropolis, Centennial Hotel

One of the most expensive suites in this fine hotel had been the home to an upcoming magician named Caesar. Several weeks ago, this young mage started to expand his audience from Las Vegas' famous Starfish Hotel and Casino. He started a small four-city tour and that had ended in Metropolis. But prior to his arrival in Superman's city, tragedy had struck the young magician…struck him twice. But Caesar would not let his guard down for anyone to see his pain.

Since he wrapped up his magical tour, he had been an occult consultant to Metropolis's Special Crime Unit. He had worked with Metropolis's finest, which included the beautiful Captain Maggie Sawyer and the legendary Guardian. And life in the big city wasn't boring either. The experience had left Caesar with a broken left forearm for six to eight weeks. Caesar could've casted a spell to heal his broken bone, but he chose to let it heal naturally, as a way of reminding him of his own humanity and vulnerability. Plus it also gave him the chance to get a few more numbers from the nursing staff at the hospital.

Caesar looked around his hotel room, and the bed where his sister had once laid, and he remembered the time he had attempted to awaken his little sister from her mystical coma only to let loose a demon on the city of Metropolis. One thought entered his mind as he exited his hotel room, I'll get you out of that coma, sis, I swear I will.

A few minutes later, Caesar walked up to the counter to check out, and saw the familiar face behind the counter. He smiled at the beautiful receptionist and snapped his fingers. A pink rose magically appeared in his right hand. He handed the rose to the receptionist and said, "Well it's time for me to move on to other things, sweetie…I just wanted to say goodbye and I'll give you a call next time I'm in the big city…and by the way, I just wanted to make sure that the Special Crime Unit has picked up the tab for my room from a few weeks back."

The receptionist smiled and said, "Yes, the Metropolis Police Department has paid your bill and I hope you DO come back to Metropolis sooner than later. And by the way you have a message." She handed Caesar a note that had a handwritten message on it.

Caesar smiled at the receptionist and walked towards the entrance of the hotel. He read the note. 'Please contact Dr. Thomas, at your earliest convenience. Call Fawcett City Museum and ask for Dr. Thomas in the Egyptian History Department.'

Caesar walked over to his expensive exotic sports car and thought to himself, I guess I could see what the deal is with this Doc Thomas. With a broken arm, I won't be driving my Lambo anywhere.

Caesar snapped his fingers and his wand magically appeared in his right hand. He pointed the wand at his car and recited a spell, "To prevent my car from being stripped on the block, I'll just shrink it down to the size of a combination lock." And with the casting of the spell and a flash of crimson red energy, the exotic sports car was shrunk down. He placed the car inside his jacket pocket.

His wand disappeared and a cell phone appeared in his right hand. He first called information and got the phone number for the museum. Caesar was surprised when he found out that Dr. Thomas was in fact Dr. Adrianna Thomas…a woman. She had asked if he had time to meet with her:

'So, Mr. Caesar, I would like to schedule a meeting with you for the end of the week to further discuss this business proposal.'

"Well if you've got some free time this evening I could meet you tonight at your museum? That is if it is okay with your boyfriend or husband?" Caesar replied while flirting to see if she was single or not.

'Tonight? Well, I'm not married and don't have a boyfriend to consult with, but I thought you were still in Metropolis?'

"Distance matters not to one such as I," Caesar said with great confidence in his voice.

'I guess tonight will be fine. Six o'clock at the museum.'

"Then it's a date then… See you at six." Caesar said, ending his cell phone call with Dr. Thomas.

FAWCETT CITY

The Fawcett City police cruisers were chasing after the van that was reported as speeding away from Envirosystems. Captain Marvel and Kid Marvel simply followed the police cruisers to find that they were chasing a white van. Captain Marvel and Kid Marvel exchanged glances and flew closer together. Kid Marvel said to Captain Marvel, while tilting his head to the left with a look of playful uncertainty, "Evens?"

Captain Marvel shrugged his shoulder and returned Kid Marvel's playful uncertain look and said, "Okay, why not?"

They both faced each other and tapped three times their right fisted hand into their left palm. They both extended their index fingers. This meant that Kid Marvel had won and he quickly flew closer to the car chase. Captain Marvel just whispered to himself, "Go, get 'em, Freddy."

With the speed of Mercury, Kid Marvel flew in and out of the traffic that was on the road. He passed the police cruisers that were pursuing the robbers. Kid Marvel felt the rush of adrenaline coursing through him. That rush was a result of his flying about a foot above the speeding pavement. He soon caught up with the speeding white van on the right side. The passenger of the white van looked over his right shoulder. He saw Kid Marvel flying low, but rising up. Soon Kid Marvel was looking face to face with the passenger of the van. "I think we got a problem." The passenger of the van said to the others.

The sliding door of the white van opened up and two of the robbers pointed their automatic AR-15s at Kid Marvel. Before they were able to squeeze the triggers on their assault rifles, Kid Marvel slammed the sliding door shut. He lifted the van off its wheels and, with the strength of Hercules, Kid Marvel flew, with the van over his head, next to Captain Marvel.

"Now what are you going do with them, Kid Marvel?" asked the Big Red Cheese.

Before Kid Marvel could respond, one of the robbers opened the sliding door of the van and fell out. As the robber plummeted to his demise, Captain Marvel glanced at Kid Marvel with a smile and said, "I got this one and I'll meet you and the van at the police station… Hopefully you won't drop any more."

With the speed of Mercury, Captain Marvel swooped down and caught the falling robber. The robber pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Captain Marvel. The bullets bounced off of Captain Marvel's signature golden lightning bolt.

"Reality check here, buddy. I just stopped you from going splat on the highway and you think shooting me is the way of thanking me?"

Captain Marvel grabbed the pistol out of the robber's hand and crushed it with his bare hand. "When are you guys ever going to learn?"

Captain Marvel flew his passenger to the Fawcett City Police Station. Kid Marvel was already there, standing proud, having apprehended the robbers in the van. A few police officers were unloading the van of the robbers and the items that they stole from Envirosystems. Captain Marvel landed and handed over his passenger to two uniformed police officers.

One of the uniformed officers said to Captain Marvel and Kid Marvel, "Thanks for your help with these guys.

"No problem, officer." Captain Marvel stated with a smile as he and Kid Marvel flew off, heading back to Fawcett City High School.

Freddy Freeman and Billy Batson returned to their mortal states once more. Billy looked at his wristwatch and realized that they had just missed their P.E. class. Freddy realized this and clapped his hands together. "Great, we didn't miss lunch."

Billy just shook his head as they ran into the locker room to change out of their gym clothes. Just as they finished getting dressed, the bell rang for their lunch period. Freddy ran to get into the lunch line. Billy just grabbed Freddy's backpack along with his own and walked towards Jeremy Brown and Mary Bromfield, who had just sat down at one of the lunch tables. Jeremy was dressed in a green collared polo shirt with tan khaki pants. His normally afro hair was braided in corn rolls. He took off his round wire-framed glasses and wiped some dust off the lenses, before he placed them back on his face. Jeremy was one of the smartest in their class and possibly in the whole school. A few months ago, he and his parents had moved from Opal City; from the Nutmeg State to Fawcett City.

Mary was dressed in her new style - that of a preppy academy girl. She wore a white button-down collared shirt with a reddish brown sweater vest with a matching skirt. She had a smile that would make the strictest teacher soften their own rules. For so long Billy and Freddy had both had crushes on her. Slowly Billy's crush was fading as Freddy was really gaining courage as if he was Achilles to one day ask her out.

Jeremy handed some papers to Billy. "Here are the notes that you didn't take for Mr. Lieberman's Algebra class."

"Thanks."

"So Mary, I can count on your vote for Class President?" Jeremy asked Mary.

"I don't know if you are going to flip-flop on the issues that need to be addressed…such as where are we having our Seasonal Formal."

"Well, Preppy, that depends on who will be your date?" Jeremy asked with hint of laughter in his voice.

"Fortunately for you, I don't date politicians."

Jeremy just shook his head and smiled at Mary's reply. "Plus you're just mad that my GPA is higher than yours."

"Hey your parents are…" Mary started to state.

Freddy arrived with his lunch tray and sat next to Mary.

Sudan, The Sahara Desert, Present Day

At the same time, on the other side of the world, deep within the Sahara desert, an archeologist and her hired magician were searching for the next greatest discover of this millennium. Adrianna Thomas, a twenty five year old woman who stood five feet five inches tall with straight black hair that came down to her mid back, and emerald green eyes a woman who didn't in the least think of herself as pretty in any way, and part-time hero and magician Caesar rode on camels through the desert. Their goal was to find an ancient tomb, the tomb that was the final resting place of the great Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut. Adrianna Thomas was passionate about finding and unearthing the remains of this great Queen. That passion was equaled in her lack of patience. She wanted to be the one to find her.

TWO WEEKS AGO

Caesar had teleported himself from Metropolis to Fawcett City with the use of a simple teleportation spell. Such a spell left Caesar a bit hungry and only slightly weary, since he was not used to casting the spell. He walked towards the museum and was greeted by Dr. Adrianna Thomas.

"Welcome to Fawcett City, Mr. Caesar," she stated as she shook Caesar's right hand and gestured for him to enter the museum.

Caesar stopped her quickly and asked, "No offense, Doc, but I'm a bit hungry and I was hoping to discuss this proposal over some dinner."

Dr. Thomas just shrugged her shoulders. "Well, let me get my bag. There's a great Italian place not too far from here."

Ten minutes later and they were sitting down ordering their meals and sipping on their drinks. Caesar had ordered a Screwdriver and Dr. Thomas sipped on a Mango Martini. Dr. Thomas had explained to Caesar why she wanted him to join her on her expedition.

"So let me get this straight. You want me to join you in unearthing an ancient resting place of some Queen Pharaoh? And you think that the tomb might be magically sealed or magically booby-trapped? And, getting to the main point, you will only be able to pay me after we return to the States with whatever evidence you need to prove that YOU found the tomb? Is that the meat and potatoes of the proposal?

"Yes, Mr. Caesar."

"Well I can never say no to a beautiful woman. You got the location where this tomb is?"

"Well according to the tablet…"

"You got the tablet that tells of the location of the tomb?"

"We did. It was sent out to Envirosystems for carbon dating."

"So I guess we have to do this the hard way. If I was able to make contact with the tablet, I could have cast a spell that would have taken us to the tomb with no digging and stuff."

"Well the hard way is pretty much how it's done."

Their meals came as they continue to discuss their plan to fly out to the desert and search for the tomb

The police captain was standing behind the two-way mirror as his two detectives came out of the interrogation room. "Who the hell is this Mister Longshadow? I wonder what the hell he was really trying to find in that research facility," he said.

The first detective looked up at his captain. "Well, soon we'll have a catalog of what was stolen. Sir, I don't think that this Mr. Longshadow was the boss behind this theft and break in," he said and the captain and other detective looked at him.

"What? What do you mean that you don't think that he was the boss behind this? Who do you think was behind it then?" The captain said as he looked from the second detective to the first one and then back into the room where the man was still cuffed to the table.

"Well, sir, I don't think it was Longshadow because if it was him then why then would those men be wearing reptilian masks? I think there might be significance to the fact that the masks were reptilian," he said and he too looked back into the room.

"Hmm, that is a good point. But we obviously can't get that information from him. He claims that he doesn't know," the captain said and then he looked at his second detective. "Did you pull his rap sheet?" he asked.

"Yes, sir, he's clean. This is his first offense for anything so he's telling the truth. I even called up his personal information and he was laid off from his last job. It appears that there was some sort of downsizing and he was one of the unlucky ones," the second detective said.

"Longshadow, did you get the ssspecial item out of the vault?" a man standing looking into a small coy pond asked. He was wearing a deep navy blue cloak. It was hooded and he had the hood pulled up, so that his features couldn't really be seen. His hands were clasped together, within the sleeves of his cloak covering all sign of his hands. His feet were in thick-soled boots and he was turned so that his face, or what one could see of his face, was away from Longshadow. All that could be seen of the actual man himself was the faint outline of his face, which was shrouded in deep shadow. The man had a very raspy voice and he tended to drawl a bit on sibilant sounds.

"Yes, sir. It was the first thing that was brought out to me. I have it right here, sir," Longshadow said as he held up a small box. There was nothing whatsoever special about the small box; it was made out of wood and had no markings on it whatsoever.

"Very good, Longshadow, you ssshall be rewarded nicely for thisss," the cloaked man said as his raspy voice rang out around the room.

"Thank you, master. I work to please you," Longshadow said, bowing as he moved to set the small wooden box down on a table near where the cloaked man was standing.

"Thank you, Longshadow. You may go now. I wisssh to be in peace," the cloaked man said as he turned his head very slightly, so that a small amount of the tip of his nose could be seen, but in the combination of shadow and light it appeared that his nose was green in color.

"Thank you again, master. If you have any further need of me please do not hesitate to call on me," Longshadow said as he turned and headed back out of the room.

The cloaked man waited to hear the door close, then he turned and, with a silent laugh he picked up the box and opened it, and there inside he saw that which he had been searching for.

TO BE CONTINUED


	2. Chapter 2 Goddess Found

Shazam - Goddess Found Chapter 2 - Dreams Past  
Written by: Krystaledragon & Mischief  
Cover by: Mischief  
Edited by Masoud 'Crow' House & Mark Bowers

Crowley Penitentiary ~ Present Day

In a dark room in the bowels of Crowley Penitentiary is a bed where a tall man with black hair and piercing brown eyes lies dreaming. He is strapped down to the bed he is lying on. Once every five and a half hours the senior medical officer and the warden of Crowley Penitentiary make their way through the facility down to the basement where the head guard unlocks a door and the two senior men descend a flight of stairs to a long forgotten room. A room that only the senior-most staff of the facility even knows exists.

Doctor Levitz is a fifty-year-old man. He has short-cropped black hair and brown eyes, and wears wire-rimmed glasses. He is kind of geekish-looking and rather small body wise. His mustache is long and the hairs are more white than black like his hair.

Warden DiDio contrasts with Doctor Levitz in that he is a shaved-bald man. Mr. DiDio is a thirty-six-year-old man. He also has brown eyes that have a sadness to them and show how tired he is of all the stress that he has due to running a high-level penitentiary like Crowley. He is a bit chubby, but over all he has a kind and happy-looking face. Like Doctor Levitz, he also has a long mustache, but his is black and shows no inkling of grey or even white.

Doctor Levitz turns to Warden DiDio. "Sir, sometimes I wish that someone else could be the one to come down here and do this." Dr. Levitz stokes his mustache and continues, "I don't know about you but he scares the piss out of me; even in his drug induced state he is still rather frightening." They get to the top of the stairs and stare down into the darkness.

"Grow a backbone will you, Levitz. He has been kept unconscious now for the past six months. He isn't about to wake up tomorrow. I bet we could skip his next dose and he still wouldn't wake up. Now grow some balls will you!" Mr. DiDio says as he flips on the light switch, lighting up the stairway for the two men.

Doctor Levitz shakes his head and starts down the stairs, after taking a deep breath to try and steel himself for what he is about to do. "I don't care what you say, Dan, he still scares me," he says as he continues down the stairs.

Warden DiDio smiles as he watches Dr. Levitz. They go through this same conversation every time they have to do this. "Yeah I know, Paul, I know," he says as he turns back to the guard and nods. The guard nods in return and he closes the door behind them and locks it. The warden and take close to four minutes to walk the single flight of stairs; each stair is harder to take than the next one for both men. It is because the man they are going to see terrifies them.

At the bottom of the stairs there is a vault door and on each side of it are two holes which need two different keys and only the warden and senior medical officer have the keys. "Alright, Dan you ready?" Dr. Levitz asks.

Dan looks over at Paul and shakes his head. "Not really but let's just get this over with. The sooner we are done with this the better," Mr. DiDio says to Dr. Levitz.

The two men pull out their keys which hang from lanyards around their necks. They insert the two keys into their respective holes. Mr. DiDio looks over at Dr. Levitz and nods. "Alright on three. One…Two…Three turn now." Mr. DiDio says and the two men turn their keys at the same time.

As the keys turn fully, there is a loud clicking noise as the different locks in the vault door start to unlock. Then the massive lead-lined door begins to open on its own and Warden DiDio grabs onto the door and pulls it the rest of the way open. Dr. Levitz steps through the door followed by Mr. DiDio.

The room is semi-dark with no windows or any decorations on the walls. There are a few screens displaying the vital signs for the sleeping man. One shows his respiration and heartbeats along with his blood oxygen, and another one shows his brainwave activity. There is an IV that is in the man's arm and a catheter tube comes out of his abdomen area and drains into a Foley that is on the floor. The man has several wires attached to his chest and forehead which lead to the different monitors.

Dr. Levitz shivers as he sees the man and slowly walks over to him. He then moves to a bag that collects urine and changes it so that the body can continue to process the artificial food that is being pumped into the man. He then moves and changes the IV bag and injects a small cloudy fluid into it and then checks the automated monitor for the IV. Once he makes sure that all the electrodes are connected and that none of them need to be changed, Dr. Levitz then turns to recording the different vital signs of the man.  
He takes special note of the fact that the man is obviously dreaming about something: of what, he doesn't know. He makes a note of it and then turns back to Mr. DiDio and the two leave the vault and head back up into the main part of the prison.

Theo Adam lay unconscious on a bed in the dark room. He wasn't aware of what was going on around him; all he knew was what his dreams showed him. They showed him many things: the past, the present. Theo had no idea that he'd been drugged into unconsciousness for the past few months, nor that he was laying on a bed in Crowley Penitentiary. For all he knew, he was laying comfortably in his bed dreaming the night away. One of Theo Adam's dreams was something that he didn't seem to want to leave. It was one of the oldest memories of Teth-Adam's last days with Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut.

Ancient Egypt the year 3548 BC

Teth-Adam and Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut are sitting at dinner in the royal palace in Egypt. It is just about sunset, and the sun is bathed in all shades of reds, purples, oranges and blues. The queen is dressed in a white cotton gown with gold trimming. She wears around her neck the amulet of Isis. On her forehead is her crown embedded in jewels of all sorts. Her hair is black, straight and long down to her waist. She has a very athletic body and it shows even through the gown that she is wearing. She still looks as if she is in her early twenties. The power of Isis has helped her to live this long and has helped her to maintain her beauty.

Lying on the floor are two pure white leopards. One sits by Queen Hatshepsut and the other one lounges at Teth-Adam's feet. The servants are standing nearby waiting to be called into service. There is a servant wafting a fan of ostrich feathers at the lovers to help keep them cool. There are lit braziers all around the room. There are also four doors in the room, one on each wall. One goes outside to a balcony where the queen and her lover may enjoy looking out at the city or watching the moon. One leads in to the royal baths, one to the royal sleeping chamber and the last leads out into the hall.

Once Queen Hatshepsut and Teth-Adam are done eating, the two stand up and, as they do so, the two leopards also stand up. They are the queen's most personal of guards.

"Well, my love, shall we go for a walk in the garden? It is such a lovely evening and I would so like to see the moon flowers starting to bloom," Queen Hatshepsut suggests to her lover as the two leopards stop and look up expectantly at Teth-Adam.

"If that is what you wish, my love, then let it be," Adam says as he moves around the table and holds out his hand for his love to take. "I, too, would love to see the moon flowers blooming tonight. It is such a warm evening I think that perhaps we might walk along the Nile once the moon comes up. It would be lovely by moonlight," Adam says as he takes Hatshepsut's hand.

"Oh that is a wonderful idea, my love," the Queen says as she reaches up and kisses Adam on the lips. "Come, my friends, let us go to the gardens first, then we can go for a walk along the Nile," she says to the pair of leopards. The leopards nod and give a slight purring sound to signal that they too like the idea.

As the queen, with Adam at her side, and the two leopards walk down through the palace and out into the garden they come upon a few lovers also walking in the warm evening air enjoying the beauty of the garden. They bow their heads to the queen as she passes.

The people of Egypt love their queen and are more than happy to see her and be around her. She has been a kind and caring woman to her people. She has overseen her kingdom with a fairness that has helped the kingdom to grow rather prosperous. The only ones that are really wanting in the kingdom of Egypt at this time are the slaves, and even they are taken care of quite nicely.

As the queen and Adam pass under the arch way that leads out into the city, the royal guards standing duty bow and offer their services as escorts. Though they all know that the queen and her lover Adam are both very capable of handling themselves, they still know it to be proper to offer their services to the queen.

As the two lovers pass into the city they again are greeted by many citizens; some offer a wave of their hands, others bow low before their queen and protector. The two stop at a market stall and pick up some fruit, which the two decide that they are going to share when they get to the shore of the great river.

As the two approach the river, they find that they are now alone, except for the two leopards which are a short way away. They find a patch of grass that is on the bank of the river and they sit down. Teth-Adam breaks the pie into two pieces. They sit there and watch the water horses as they talk to the moon. The water lilies appear to reflect the moonlight. The river itself seems to take on a silver appearance.

"Adam, isn't this the most beautiful sight you have ever seen?" Hatshepsut asks as she looks from the river up into the sky towards the moon.

"No, my queen, it isn't. You are the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. And you shall always be such, too," he says as he lifts her hand to his lips and kisses it. "I have been happy these many years we have been together, my queen, and I thank you for them. I don't know what my life would have been like without such a wonderful partner," Teth-Adam says as he pulls Hatshepsut into his strong embrace and kisses her tenderly.

"And you, Teth-Adam, have been such a wonderful partner. I only wish that you could have been my husband," she says as she knows that, no matter what, the law is the law, and Adam hasn't been born of royalty or of noble blood so the two can never marry. I only wish I had more time to be with you my love. My time grows near, Hatshepsut thinks to herself as she sits there in Adam's arms kissing him tenderly. Her hands exploring his body as the two sit there bathed in the silver light from the moon.

Adam can tell something is bothering his love and, even with the wisdom of Zehuti, Adam still can't figure out what is bothering his queen. "My queen, my love, is something bothering you?" Adam asks as he pulls her closer to him.

Hatshepsut looks up at Adam and shakes her head. "No, my love, there is nothing at all wrong. Why do you ask?" she asks him and she realizes that she needs to school her emotions a bit more or he will see through her pain and figure out what is truly wrong. "I am just thinking about us sitting here bathed in the light of Toth and all the years that we have been together and how I have enjoyed each and every one of them," she says as she snuggles up to Adam a bit more. However, emotionally she feels closer to him at this moment than she has in the almost three hundred years the two have spent together.

Adam shakes his head slightly and kisses the top of Hatshepsut's head. "No reason, my love, it's just you looked almost sad for a bit and I thought that something was wrong. 'Tis all, my sweet one," he says and kisses the top of her head and runs his hand up and down her arm between her bracelet and her arm band which is of a coiled snake and it's wrapped mid-way between her shoulder and her elbow. The arm band is made of pure gold and the snake's eyes are made of rubies.

"Oh, love, you know that if something was wrong I would tell you," she says as she turns her head up to him, as he leans down, and kisses him tenderly.

Crowley Penitentiary ~ Present Day

Theo Adam lay unconscious on the bed that he had been strapped to for the past six months. His body occasionally twitched and jumped from muscle spasms. He continued to dream his life away unknowing that he was dreaming his life away. While over in Egypt the long forgotten tomb of Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut was being broken into for the first time in centuries. The magical seal that had protected the tomb for just as long was now being brought down. Right before the seal was brought down it sent out a pulse trying to find someone to come and protect the tomb, and that which it housed.

Ancient Egypt, the year 3546 BC

Just under two years after Hatshepsut had been buried, her tomb was magically sealed by order of Teth-Adam. He had wished that she would not be disturbed in the afterlife. Teth-Adam tried to continue on without his beloved Hatshepsut. Without his queen by his side, he lost compassion for anyone that dared challenge the peace and harmony that she had created. Teth-Adam would hand out death sentences to entire kingdoms that attempted to migrate into their kingdom. In the two years since her passing, Teth Adam sought out the nomads that had once threatened but never attacked their kingdom. With the powers of the Egyptian Gods at his command, he slaughtered the nomads. Teth-Adam's massacre of the nomads did not end with the men; he slaughtered them all, even the women and children. Teth-Adam took no chances that one child might live to make war with his kingdom later.

Teth-Adam had no one to console him. So slowly his heart was filled with anger. Within his own kingdom, he had handed out justice swiftly and harshly. Death accompanied any crime no matter how petty. Soon the people within his own kingdom were fearful of their ruler. Teth-Adam's name was no longer mentioned by those within his kingdom. Love and compassion were no longer resident within his heart, replaced by anger and rage for anyone that opposed his version of BLACK JUSTICE, henceforth. Those that knew of his actions and the terror he created, referred to him as BLACK ADAM.

He went out of the palace like he always did every day in the hope of keeping the peace in the kingdom. Since Queen Hatshepsut had died, the rains that had come every so often, now failed to come. The Nile failed to flood and the crops of the kingdom failed to grow. Things were getting very desperate in the kingdom of Egypt. There were people trying to steal what food the merchants did have, or there were riots left and right over the small amount of food that was found. With each passing day, his depression worsened with the sight of famine that was destroying all that his love had created.

Today as Teth-Adam arrived in the market of Lower Egypt he found a small riot had broken out over a merchant charging the people way too much for a slice of bread. The people were outraged and wanted more. They needed more to sustain themselves but the merchant refused to give more for the measly amount of marks.

When Teth-Adam arrived there was a full-blown riot. Usually the people would stop arguing when Teth-Adam showed up, but today they didn't see him. "People, please stop this madness. I am sure that we can come to some agreement here," he called out.

A rock that was thrown in hopes of hitting the merchant instead, guided by the gods themselves, hit Adam in the side of the head. That broke the fragile wall that held Adam's emotions in check. At the moment he broke, he put his arms to his sides and screamed. It was a feral scream, a scream filled with the pain of losing the one he loved and not having let go. He went into a blind rage and started to grab people left and right. He had begun flinging people around at super speed, using them as massive flesh projectiles. Bodies were left broken in his blind destructive wake. He was breaking arms over his knees. He grabbed one man who fought to get away, and broke him across his knee. Then Teth-Adam reached out and grabbed the next person closest to him; it was a child of about eight years old. The child screamed and fought; he had seen what Teth-Adam had just done to his father and didn't want it to happen to him.

The child scratched at Teth-Adam's face which snapped Adam back to reality just as he was about to crack the child's back across his knee like he did to his father. Teth-Adam, seeing what he was about to do, dropped the child as he blanched pure white. The people that hadn't run when he first snapped, stopped and watched. Teth-Adam looked at the child he was about to murder and started to cry. He then launched into the air and headed back to the palace.

Ancient Egypt, the year 3546 BC, three days later

Adam sat in the palace, cowering in a corner of the bedroom that he had shared with Hatshepsut. The palace servants would enter the room and set a plate of food down right inside the door for him. Rumors had spread wide and fast that Teth-Adam had killed and seriously injured several people at the market in Lower Egypt. Everyone was afraid of him.

Teth-Adam's heart had grown as cold as the ice from the mountains up north. He stood up when the servant brought in his food and he stalked towards the woman. The woman looked up at the enraged man and saw no compassion, no love of life; instead all she saw was anger and hatred. She screamed for dear life, dropping the plate of food, then took off running and screaming down the hall.

Teth-Adam stalked down the hall like an enraged animal. The palace no longer looked vibrant and alive as it had two years prior. The tapestries that hung around the palace were faded and dirty. The paintings on the walls looked dark and dank. The stone walls themselves looked dead and dark. The people who normally occupied the palace heard the woman screaming and figured that Teth-Adam was coming for them, so they all fled the palace.

Teth-Adam walked out into the streets and grabbing the first person he could get his hands on, broke his neck in a quick turn. He then dropped that corpse like a bad habit and looked for the next person who he thought was against his band of black justice. He saw the people running from him and the palace and through his twisted mind he saw them as guilty people running from justice. He took up chase after a group of three adolescent boys. He caught one and started to question him.

"What did you steal?" he asked the terrified teenager.

The boy looked up at Teth-Adam, shaking his head from side to side in fear he was unable to say anything. "I…I" was all he was able to stutter out to Adam.

Teth-Adam, looking at the boy, started to grow angry at his inability to answer. "Tell me, boy, what did you steal from the palace? What did you steal from my love?" he asked again to the boy.

The boy was now in mortal terror because he couldn't answer. He knew that Teth-Adam would kill him for running from him and he was so terrified that there was nothing he could say. He was shaking like a leaf in the wind while Teth-Adam held him by his arm. He started to shake his head back and forth in a 'no' gesture frantically hoping and praying to all the gods that they would strike Teth-Adam down before he killed him. He hadn't stolen anything; he like his friends were running from Teth-Adam out of sheer fear. By now the whole kingdom had heard how Adam was killing people left and right for minor things or even for just running when they saw him.

As Teth-Adam questioned the boy and, as he got no response from him, his anger grew and grew. The red in front of his eyes was growing brighter and brighter his pulse was beating so fast that he heard it, and his veins were popping out of his neck and along the sides of his arms. His voice which was usually a deep baritone now had a desperate tone to it and started to rise in pitch.

"Why will you not tell me what it is that you have stolen from your queen?" he asked the boy in near desperation and pure anger.

The boy was so frightened by now that he ended up wetting himself and was blubbering incoherently. The only word he was able to mutter was, "PLEASE."

Teth-Adam now grew so angry at hearing 'Please' that he took it to mean that the boy was trying to beg for forgiveness. In a burst of anger above what he was already feeling he yelled out, "This is your punishment." He then snapped the boy's neck.

From around the corner of the wall, watching from the shadows and around the courtyard, a mass of people came out shouting at Teth-Adam. "He was innocent," "You killed an innocent boy," "He did nothing wrong," "Murderer," were the different yells that came from the crowd of Egyptians.

Teth-Adam dropped the dead lifeless body of the boy and looked up at the crowd as a platoon of soldiers came around the corner as four of the palace mages cast a spell to restrain him. "Teth-Adam, for your crimes of murder and inciting riots we place you under arrest. Do not fight us or you will make it worse for yourself," the captain of the guard said. He and his men had been those that were stationed at the palace and they all knew Teth-Adam.

Teth-Adam looked from the dead body of the boy to the captain of the palace guard and he nodded his head. "I will come with you," he said as he fell in next to the captain.

Cheers went up around the mass of people as they followed the soldiers who were escorting Teth-Adam back to the palace. "Death to Teth-Adam," "Kill Adam, he's a murderer," were some of the shouts that accompanied Teth-Adam and the soldiers towards the palace.

At the gates to the palace the soldiers formed a wall and refused to allow the citizens any closer. The captain and a few of his soldiers escorted Teth-Adam into the palace. There he was taken to his rooms and placed under guard.

The next evening at sundown, Teth-Adam was brought before a council of elders and was put on trial. The father of the boy that Teth-Adam had murdered that morning was brought in to testify that his son had been innocent when Teth-Adam had killed him.

The eldest man stood up and tapped a statue of a golden cat sitting against the table that the elders were sitting at. There were seven in all. They represented the seven districts of the kingdom of Egypt. They were all dressed in white robes and each had a symbol which represented the individual districts of Egypt. They were all relatively older than most the people within their respective kingdoms. Some actually had white hair. The elder stood to address Teth-Adam.[Changed it up to help it flow better – Chief]

"Teth-Adam, you are charged with very grave crimes. You were once protector of Egypt, but have now become the vilest of villains anywhere in the kingdom of Egypt. Do you, Adam, have anything to say for yourself?" the elder asked.

Adam looked at the gathered representatives and then lowered his head.

"Very well, Adam. Let us hear an account of what happened this morning then." The elder looked over at a man, sitting on a stool, wearing black in mourning for his killed son.

"My lords, this morning my son escorted me to the square when all of a sudden Teth-Adam burst out of the palace and then he started to chase my son and his friends. He caught my son by the arm and started to yell at him, demanding he tell him what he stole. My lords, my son didn't steal anything. We are farmers from outside the city only here to try and sell what we could for food," he said, then he looked over at Adam. "He continued to question my son then, when he cried out 'Please', Adam told him that this was his punishment for stealing and then he twisted his head. He then fell limp, dead in Teth-Adam's hands. I fell over in shock and then the palace guards came and took him into custody," the man said as he collapsed to the ground in agony from reliving what he had seen earlier that morning.

The elders turned to one another, mumbling and motioning towards Adam. The elder looked from one side to the other as the men around him leaned closer to him. "Teth-Adam, for your heinous crimes of murder we strip you of your title and banish you to the scarab for all eternity," he said.

Before Adam could protest, four men wearing the robes of the royal magicians came out and surrounded Adam. They began to chant and make motions with their hands. Before everyone's eyes a faint glow started to form around Adam. Suddenly above Teth-Adam appeared a frail old man with long white shaggy hair and beard that came down to his waist, he wore a white with a gold sash around his waist. The great Wizard Shazam had been summoned to banish his former champion. Then a sickly green smoke started to envelop Adam. As it approached his head the glow became bright and then in a sudden flash Adam was no longer in the room; in his place, hanging in mid-air, remained a scarab. It glowed for a moment, and then fell to the ground with a clink.

Crowley Penitentiary ~ Present Day

In the bowels of Crowley Penitentiary lay the prone form of Theo Adam, the present incarnation of Teth-Adam. He had been in a medically-induced slumber for the past six months. All of a sudden a wave barely visible to the naked eye washed through the Penitentiary then, out of nowhere, the prone form of Theo Adam sat bolt upright and screamed.

To Be Continued In Shazam! Chapter 3


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